Johann Holwein

Johann Holwein (* around 1615 in Wolfenbüttel ; † 1681 in Schleswig ) was a German printer.

Live and act

Johann Holwein was the son of the book printer and form cutter Elias Holwein (* 1579 in Wolfenbüttel; buried on August 18, 1659 in Stade ) and his first wife Anna, who died before 1629. He had two half-brothers named Andreas (1631–1727) and Caspar (1639–1717) who worked as printers in Stade. The father lived in Celle since 1628 and moved to Stade in 1651.

Johann Holwein spent his childhood and youth in Wolfenbüttel and Stade and learned tailoring and book printing from his father. According to some sources, he was born around 1625, but this does not seem possible because in 1636 his father began negotiations with the government of the Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (-Calenberg), in which he asked to open a princely printing house in the new royal seat of Hanover to be allowed. His son, who was certainly already a journeyman at the time, was supposed to take over the celle shop. Elias Holwein actually moved the ducal order of the court in Hanover in 1639, but ceased operations there a little later. He then worked in Celle. In 1651 he founded a new printing company in Stade and bequeathed the printers in Celle not to his son Johann, but to the younger Andreas Holwein.

Johann Holwein himself can be found in Schleswig from 1650 , where the court book printer Jacob zur Glocken gave parts of his practical work from 1649. From that year the title pages named Valentin Kuhn as a so-called “factor”, who was probably in charge of the workshop. Kuhn moved to Norway in 1650 and Holwein took over his position. Jacob zur Glocken was named as the publisher of Schleswiger Drucke until 1655, while Holwein took over the printing of the works. Texts mention the year 1654 as the date of takeover, but there is no real evidence for this. In fact, he was not appointed to the court printer until four years later.

Holwein was married to a woman of unknown name. The couple had four children, including Johann (buried on November 7, 1738 in Schleswig), who worked as a printer in Schleswig.

Works

A bibliography by Philipp Marschall Mitchell contains the only known complete overview of all German-language works that Holwein created. Since the demand for Latin prints was lower here than in other places at that time, it can be assumed that Holwein did not print a lot of Latin works. He worked with sovereign mandates and created political pamphlets for the court that never had an imprint. There were also occasional poems and funeral sermons. Adam Olearius was one of his most important clients .

Holwein designed Olearius' second, edited and supplemented edition of travel reports to Russia and Persia and the following editions for the years 1656, 1661, 1663 and 1671. In addition, there were the related travel descriptions by Johann Albrecht von Mandelsloh , which Olearius published in 1658, as well as reports by Jürgen Andersen and Volquard Iversen from 1669.

In 1654 Holwein printed the translation of the originally Persian " Gulistan ", and in 1662 a report on the funeral ceremonies of Friedrich III. In 1663 he created the "Kurtzen concept of a Holstein Chronic" that the history of the country since Christian I. contained.

Olearius procured a three-volume translation of the Bible for the Dowager Dowager Maria Elisabeth , which Holwein reproduced in 1664. In the following year, Holwein himself published an agenda for the regional church and, in 1666, the depiction of the "Gottorffische [n] Kunst-Cammer". Maria Elisabeth asked for sacred works in large letters, whereupon her court preacher Theodor Petraeus († 1672) procured the Husum court hymn book containing sheet music (printed in 1676). The “Psalter of David”, created in 1663 and printed in quarto format in 1663, was probably related to it.

For the court official Levin Claus Moltke, Holwein printed the Latin works “Conclave” about the election of the Pope in 1655 and the philosophical consolation “Consolatio Socratis” (1659). In some cases he wrote very extensive controversial theological works for Johannes Reinboth . Further theological work came from pastors, especially from the Gottorf portion of the Schleswig Duchy, including two editions of the "North Frisian Chronicle" by Anton Heimreich and in 1670 the land law of North Beach .

The most important work printed by Holwein is probably the extensive description of the country by Caspar Danckwerth and Johannes Mejer . However, the title page of the publication bears neither the location nor the printer.

The Hofbuchdruckerei from Gottorf reached its maximum productivity during Holwein's creative period. The printers were proficient in notation and had Arabic letters. In particular the works of Olearius, which have many copper engravings, were elaborate. Since Olearius kept the necessary copper presses in his house, he had to cooperate constantly with Holwein. This sometimes led to conflicts. So Olearius complained to the Duke about the printers who preferred other work to his and “left my work behind”, “often put it out for several days, indulge in drinking and thus leave the printing shop alone”.

Progress of the print shop

Holwein obviously worked as a printer until the end of his life. Until 1681 there was no other printer to be found on the title pages of the Schleswig printing house. He had a journeyman named Lorentz Eckstorff, who married a daughter of Holwein in 1690. After Holwein's death, he continued to run the printing company. Eckstorff died in 1703 at a young age. His son Johann then took over the business, but like his father did not create any significant works.

literature

• Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 214–217.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 214.
2. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 214.
3. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 215.
4. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 214.
5. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 215.
6. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 215.
7. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 215.
8. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 215.
9. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, pp. 215–216.
10. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 216.
11. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 216.
12. ↑ Dieter Lohmeier: Holwein, Johann . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 13. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 2011, p. 216.